Spring 2011 - The University of Akron

cAmPUS NewS
Civil Engineering Students Take to the Water
University of Akron College of Engineering students will join
many of the region’s top engineering students to compete in the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Ohio Valley Student
Conference. Hosted this year by UA, the students will build and
design concrete canoes, steel bridges, water treatment centers,
AutoCAD designs and more at the April 14-16 competition.
Schools from three states to compete
Students from UA, Ohio State University University, University
of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State Technical College, Cleveland State
University, University of Dayton, Ohio University, Stark State
College, Youngstown State University, University of Kentucky,
Geneva College, Western Kentucky University, Carnegie Mellon
University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Louisville
will compete in seven different civil engineering categories.
The steel bridge teams will design and fabricate 1/10 models
(about 20 feet long) of a steel bridge. This year’s design of a
cantilevered-style steel bridge challenges students in construction
speed and economy, lightness, stiffness, structural efficiency and
overall performance and, as a tie breaker, aesthetics. The UA
Steel Bridge Team placed first in this regional competition for the
past two years and fifth in the 2010 national competition.
The concrete canoe competition challenges students to
design a lightweight, concrete watercraft focused on the theme,
sustainability. Once teams design their concrete, each construct
a 20-foot canoe following required specifications. Teams are
judged on a technical paper, oral presentation, aesthetics, various
races and canoe durability. Last year, UA’s Concrete Canoe Team
placed first in the regional competition and ninth at nationals.
The environmental competition challenges students to
demonstrate a treatment process that creatively and sustainably
treats a “real” drinking water source by reducing the water’s
elevated manganese levels and turbidity.
Realistic contests planned
Meanwhile, teams in the surveying competition will demonstrate
their proficiency with land surveying techniques after they are
presented with a proposed construction site plan showing the
detailed location of various building elements.
Students in the AutoCAD competition will creatively design
a fast-food restaurant site sketch, working with property limits,
a building footprint, dumpster and menu board layouts. In
another contest, the balsa wood bridge competition, teams will
create a bridge, preferably truss or beam, that follows design
specifications.
Finally, students will compete in an ethics paper contest
focused on the topic “Ethics and the ASCE Report Card for
America’s Infrastructure.”
Members of the 2010 UA Concrete Canoe Team edge past the competition.
A M AgA z in e for A lu M ni & f rie n ds of T h e u ni v e r siT y of A k ron
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